Monday, November 24, 2014

Review/Quote-tastic--Night Shift--alright little cat...

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Eeps! I'm late, I'm late! Sorry about that guys. The laptop needed to charge and I was just going to nap a little while it did then put up my post and, well, 8 hours later... lol Anywho. Today's Quote-tastic...

Ahhhh Night Shift! This is a fantastic anthology. If you're a novella...pretty much you hope to grow up to be one of the ones in this antho. These ladies rocked it so hard. It was fantastic! So two quotes today. I Just couldn't pick. First is from Nalini Singh's story. I just loved Bastien's voice. Kirby's pretty dang freaked out--and rightfully so--both of what was happening to her in the story and how quick they bonded and I loved how he spoke to her.

"Some people"--he closed his hand over hers-- "we know in a heartbeat." Leopard and man both looked into the unusual hazel of her eyes and saw their future. "Others, we'll never know, even if we speak to them for a thousand years."

"I'm with you every step of the way, little cat." he held her close, the side of his face pressed against the softness of her hair. "We'll do this together."

And then from Ilona Andrew's contribution. This just cracked me up. I love Jim.

"I've learned to be what people expect me to be. People expect the Chief of Security to be a scary hardass, so I give them that. Werecats expect their alpha to show teeth every time someone steps out of line, so I give them that, too."

The quick of it...Bas has been trying to track down a delictible female whose smell he keeps encountering that that's just a little...off. And finally...he finds her! Much to his delight and continued confusion because he can't for the life of him figure out what Kirby is. All he knows is she's his and they'll figure it out together.

Singh just blows me away every time with her novellas. I actually like them more than her full lengths. They're just a little more flirty maybe? I just know I loved this one. The characters were adorable and so cute together. It was fun seeing them banter. Him going all protective alpha male predator on her when he fretted over her being sick (there was some weird happening with her they couldn't figure out at first) and her standing right up to him and giving him a good nip of her own when he went a little too far. There's very little actual heat but the chemistry was there and so fun. It was incredibly fleshed out. With friends and family being involved here and there, with her past being slowly figured out--she'd been in foster care and knew nothing of her past before then, with work and play and her learning about herself. It's less than 100 pages but dang it is packed to the gills and just an all around delightful paranormal romance romp.

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars

Ack! Andrews proved once again...they are masters at their craft. Magic Steals...was amazing! Another jam packed novella with heart, steam and lots of magical action as Jim tags along and helps Dali figure out what--or who--is behind the attacks on her friends grandmother and the people who own businesses in her building.

It was exciting and curious and so much fun watching the two of them figure everything out. Jim supporting her and being all sexy alpha male while doing it and Dalicoming to realize that she had a lot more strength than she thought. She's a little insecure and frets over being enough for Jim since she's not really all that alpha-ish but I loved seeing him help her see what her strengths were and that she was perfect for him. And I continue being totally smitten with Jim. Won't even pretend I'm not. He's just such a sexy beast of a kitten and has a wee naughty streak which was so dang funny to watch play out as he tries to convince Dali to "come out" about their relationship to her family. He totally made me gasp and gigglesnort over some of the little antics he played. There's some gore and gack! as they unravel the magical attacks but it's a fun one!

And just gotta say. A vegetarian heroine with glasses?!! Oh...mygod. Andrews? I freaking LOVED that! That was fabulous...says the vegetarian blogger girl with glasses.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Ooos a new to me author! And a delightful one at that! This was a fun little novella that I'm kinda thinking is the start of a new magic filled series surrounding a new seer that's joining a team of agents in NY who keep other para in the city under control.

Lucky Charms was fun and a bit silly as the group of agents--with MaKenna the seer in tow-- tracks a herd of lost royal leprechauns their agency was hired to bodyguard and that the previous team had managed to let escape their watch. I liked all of the teammates and Mac's partner Ian who is a little grumpy and abrasive. There's no romance in this little taste of the series but I can see the possibility down the line. It was a hoot watching the all get to know each other, tracking down the mischievous leprechauns and saving the day. There's hoochie coochie bars, nekkid leprechauns, nekkid pissed off Russian werewolves, high speed chases, gargoyles....yeah....it was pretty damn awesome. I'll definitely check this series out. *nods*

Rating: I'm not sure yet. [edit--I'm going with a 4]

Alright so this is my first Milla Vane. And I liked it. But it really didn't fit the rest of the anthology which made it feel very awkward to me. You know how you're in a frame of mind from the tone and then it just abruptly jerks into another one? That was The Beast of Blackmoor for me. It went para-historical. Which was fine. But it also went way dark and serious. Gone were the light airy flirty feels from the previous novellas. This one is full of struggles, angry goddesses, death, fear, rape, blood and guts. It's well written and interesting but it just didn't work in the antho for me. So I'm not sure what I think of it rating-wise quite yet. I'll be back to "review" this one after it's settled a bit.

[edited to add-- Okay so I've thought on this one. And I did like it. The characters were unique and strong. They went well together. There was a lot of action and some gasp-y moments as they fought demon animals and evil as she worked fulfill a quest she was on for a goddess in exchange for help protecting her people. The problem for me was this just did not fit the anthology. On it's own it's a good read. But as part of the antho it sticks out very badly and really put me off at first. It took me a good half of the story to get out of the lighter cheekier mood into this heavier dark and dangerous world.]

So, what's YOUR favorite quote this week?

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